In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google Homepage

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In Test, Canadian ISP Splices Itself Into Google Homepage

A screen shot posted to the web over the weekend seems to show that Canada's largest provider of high-speed internet access is exploring a controversial data substitution technique that lets it add its own content to the webpages customers visit.

Expect this development to become Exhibit A in the case for net neutrality legislation.

The screen shot, forwarded from "a concerned reader," shows a Rogers-Yahoo branded customer service message apparently on Google's home page.

The message informs the Rogers customer that they are approaching their data cap limit for the month, and provides them with a link to information on how they would be able to upgrade their account, among other things. (Click the image to enlarge)

"Just brought to my attention today by a concerned reader who choseGoogle for his example, what you're looking at is reportedly an ongoing test by Rogers in Canada, scheduled for deployment to Rogers Internet customers next quarter," Weinstein wrote in his blog.

"This is what Net Neutrality is about – it's not just making sure that data is handled in a competitive and non-discriminatory manner, but it's also that the data that's sent is the data that you get – that the content is unmodified, not with messages that are woven into your data stream [from third parties]" he says in an interview.

Weinstein is a co-founder of a non-profit discussion and policy group called People for Internet Responsibility, the latest project of which is a new e-mail discussion group called the Net Neutrality Squad. The project's goal is to report on and discuss alleged incidents of discriminatory activity.

Update: Rogers vice president of communications Taanta Gupta confirmed that Rogers is experimenting with this technique as a way to communicate with its customers.